Kathleen Wynne is trying hard to keep her party from being obliterated in Ontario’s June 7 election. She really is.

“I’m really genuinely sorry that more people don’t like me,” she confessed in the final leadership debate Sunday night, before going tooth and nail after her two opponents. Progressive Conservative leader Doug Ford doesn’t have a coherent plan to govern the province and would hack and slash at schools and hospitals and public employment to bring about the cost reductions he promises, she charged. The NDP’s Andrea Horwath would bankrupt the province in search of ideological purity while elevating union interests to new heights of influence.

Only the Liberals seek “balance.” Only the Liberals want to do what’s best for the greatest number of people. “We’re making our economy fairer for everyone,” she insisted.

“I did what I said I was going to do.”

It was a respectable performance, yet shot through with the very flaws that have Wynne’s party running a distant third in every poll. In Kathleen Wynne’s world, the Liberals have done a sound job of governing, produced a strong economy and made Ontario a better place. But if that’s the case, how is it voters are so soured on her and her party, and why are her opponents so well equipped with ammunition to use against her?

Painful hydro bills. “Hallway medicine.” Angry doctors and striking college workers. A billion dollars every month on interest payments alone. While the premier talked about progress and achievement under 15 years of Liberal rule, Ford and Horwath struck back with images of a struggling province filled with people upset that they can’t seem to get ahead.

A member of the audience reported that he and his wife spent $20,000 on daycare for their child last year, a burden so great they can’t afford to have another child. Another asked what could be done to clear hospital corridors of patients stacked up for weeks at a time.

Wynne had a response, but not an answer. How could she? “You’ve been in power for 15 years,” Horwath noted. “Years and years of Liberal government, (and) things have gotten harder and harder.”

The debate was supposed to be a big test for Horwath, who has come close to erasing the big lead with which the Progressive Conservatives’ started their campaign. Wynne and Ford took turns bashing away at her. “You think things are bad under the Liberals — and they’re bad — they’re going to get 10 times worse under the NDP,” predicted Ford, who remains no one’s idea of a skilled debater but was feistier than in the past. Dismissing Horwath’s claim she can pay for an array of expensive promises by raising taxes on high earners and big corporations, he warned, “there won’t be any large companies to go after, because they’ll all be going south of the border.”

It was Wynne who got in the most pointed remark, though, as she questioned Horwath’s pledge to never, under any circumstances, introduce back-to-work legislation.

“I know you are beholden to the unions on this, I get that,” she said. But abandoning the government’s power to forcibly halt the damage of lengthy work stoppages would be a recipe for chaos.

“Unions would know that there’s no way you could ever say no, they could go on strike until they get everything they ask for,” Wynne said. “You’d put Ontario permanently on strike, or you’d empty the public purse to pay off huge union demands. Why would you put public sector unions first, and the people of Ontario second?”

This time it was Horwath’s turn to lack an answer. “Oh Kathleen, that’s really sad,” she said. But she did nothing to dispel the suspicion she’s an ideologue at heart, and would indeed grant union bosses enormous power under an NDP regime. The way to avoid disruptions is to prevent disputes to begin with, she said. And the means to that end, presumably, is to concede gracefully when labour makes demands.

The very thought of an NDP victory sent Ford into paroxysms of alarm. The last time the party got its hands on power, he reminded everyone, the result was higher taxes, lost jobs and labour turmoil. “The NDP will annihilate … the middle class,” he said, with the worst of it reserved for low-income workers who have the least protection when times are tough. Ask your employer, he advised, “what would happen to my job, God forbid the NDP should get in?”

In contrast to the horror of NDP rule he offered a positively celestial vision of PC plenty. The sky would open and there would be jobs, prosperity and a smile on 14 million faces. He would solve the hospital problem by consulting “frontline workers.” Nobody — “not one single person” — would lose their job, because a surging economy would take care of everything. More nurses, more teachers … no one would believe how great it will be.

No, he hasn’t yet unveiled a costed platform, and provided no indication he would do so. Earlier in the day he added yet another pledge to the disparate list of promises that range from cheaper gasoline to freedom from property taxes for Legion branches. This time it was a return to “buck a beer” — a Ford government would lower the floor price on beer so that the cheapest brews could sell for a dollar a bottle.

Cheap beer in corner stores, hard by the new marijuana outlets. “We’re the only party that puts people ahead of government and consumers ahead of big corporations,” said Ford. “If a brewer wants to offer you a buck-a-beer, there is no reason for government to stand in the way.”

It seems all but certain the Tories have now nailed down the frat vote. Whether it’s enough to stop the NDP’s momentum remains to be seen. Voters still have a tough choice between unappetizing, unappealing and untrustworthy. You can decide for yourself which is which.

When my assistant said there was a call from the White House, I picked up, said 'Hello' and started to ask if this was a prank

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